Sheet holding rack with sheet turner



July l1, v1961 J. R. MILES SHEET HOLDING RACK WITH SHEET TURNER Filed Nov. 4, 1960 INVENTOR z. E '5 ATTORNEY aldi United States .Patent j 2,991,573 Y SHEET HULDING VRACK WITH SHEET TURNER John Richard Miles, 111 Hampton Road W.,

y Williamsport, Md. Filed Nov. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 67,240 4 Claims. (Cl. 40-104) 'I'his invention relates to a rack for use as a teaching aid for classroom and other types of group instruction.

The use of such teaching aids is meeting with widespread acceptance since the material contained on the sheets supported by the rack may be used over and over again and is prepared in advance, as distinguished from the use of blackboards, 4for example, where the material frequently has to be placed on the blackboard during the class period and usually cannot be retained for a subsequent use.

However, in the use of racks supporting sheets containing teaching material, it is often quite diicult to turn or iiip a sheet after itV has been used due tothe fact that the sheets have to be supported at -a suicient elevation so that all parts of the exposed sheet are visible to the entire class, and which is frequently at such an elevation that it is extremely diicult to turn or ip a sheet over the top of the rack.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a rack, for supporting a plurality of suspended sheets, having mechanical means of extremely simple construction which can be eiiiciently utilized for turning or ipping the suspended sheets, even when the uppermost part of the rack is disposed above the normal reach of the instructor.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE l is a front elevational view, partly broken away, showing the rack with a plurality of sheets suspended therefrom and with the sheet turner positioned for turning the outermost sheet;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view thereof looking from right to left of FIGURE l FIGURE 3 is an enlarged `fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3 3 of FIGURE l, and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 4 4 of FIGURE 2.

Refemng more specifically to the drawing, the sheet holding rack in its entirety is designated generally 6 and includes a base, designated generally 7, and a post or upright 8 which is secured to and rises from the center of the base 7. The base 7, as illustrated, preferably comprises three rigid arms which extend outwardly from the lower end of the post 8 and which are equally spaced relative to one another and disposed coplanar. The arms 9 preferably have caps 10 of a cushioning material, such as rubber, mounted on their outer ends and said caps 10 rest upon a supporting surface such as a floor 11. An upper cross member 12 is secured intermediate of its ends to the upper end of the post 8 and is disposed at a right angle thereto. The rack 6 also preferably includes arms 13 which extend laterally from an intermediate portion of the post S. The arms 13 are disposed in alignment with one another and in the same vertical plane as the upper cross member 12. The parts 9, 1'2 and 13 may be secured to the post 3 in any suitable manner, as by welding, as indicated at 14.

The cross member l1 2 preferably comprises a lri-gid tube, as seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, and the parts 8, 9 and 13 are likewise preferably of tubular construction. 'Iwo threaded studs 15 are anchored to and extend upwardly from the cross piece 12, adjacent to but spaced from the ends of said cross piece. Lower portions of the studs 15 extend through openings 16 'in the bottom half of the cross piece 12 and are clamped thereto by nuts 17 and 18 which engage the outer and inner sides, respectively, of the cross piece 12.. The studs 15 extend up- Wardly through larger openings 19 in the upper half of the cross piece 12 and which are of a suicient size to permit passage of the upper nuts 18 therethrough. A clamping bar 20 is detachably mounted above the cross piece 12 on the studs 15 to form a part of the rack 6. Said clamping bar 20 has laterally and upwardly opening notches 21 near the ends thereof and openings 22 which open through the underside of the bar 26 and upwardly into the notches 21, and through which openings the studs 15 loosely project. The upper portions of the studs 15 and wing nuts 23 which threadedly engage thereon are accommodated in the notches 21, as seen in FIGURES 3 and 4.

The nuts 23 can be removed for removing the clamping bar 20 so that a plurality of sheets 24 of paper or other material containing various written or printed material, not shown, can be mounted on the rack. The sheets 24 are preferably punched adjacent an end or edge thereof to provide openings @25 spaced apart a proper distance to engage over the studs 15. After the desired number of sheets 24 have been applied, the clamping bar 20 is replaced and the nuts 23 are engaged with the upper ends of the studs 15 and tightened to securely clamp portions of the sheets bet-Ween the cross piece 12, forming -a lower clamping member, and the bar 20, and so that the sheets will extend downwardly as illustrated in FIGURES l and 2. The sheets 24 are arranged so that the material contained thereon is disposed on the outwardly facing sides of the sheets and is in sequence commencing with the outermost sheet. The bottom portions of the sheets '24 extend below the cross arms 13, as seen in FIGURES l and 2, which cooperate with the cross piece 12 to maintain the sheets substantially flat below said cross piece.

After completion of the use of the material inscribed on the outer side of the outermost sheet 24, said sheet is flipped over the clamping bar 2), as indicated by the broken arrow tipped line `2.6 in FIGURE 2, to expose the next sheet. `In order to facilitate this operation, a mechanical sheet turner 27 is provided and which comprises a rigid rod including a substantially straight intermediate portion 28 from which projects two end portions forming substantially parallel legs 29 and 30, each of which is disposed substantially at a right angle to the intermediate portion 28. The leg 30 is of a length much less than that of the leg 29 and forms a shaft which is adapted to engage detachably and rotatably in an end portion of the cross piece 12, which is located beyond the adjacent stud A15, and which end portion forms a bearing or journal 31 for the shaft 30, as best seen in FIGURE 4. The other longer leg 29 is of a sucient length to extend substantially across the horizontal width of the sheets 24- when the shaft 30 is disposed in the journal 31, and the intermediate portion 28 is of a length to locate the longer leg or sheet engaging element 29 at a considerable distance from the cross piece 12.

The sheet engaging element 29 is usually positioned between the outermost sheet 24 and the sheet disposed immediately therebehind. Accordingly, even though the clamping bar 20 is disposed at an elevation above the normal reach of the instructor, so that all portions of the outermost sheet 24 are clearly visible to all of group of students, said outermost sheet 24 can be readily turned over the clamping bar 20 to a position behind the rack 6 by the instructor grasping the portion 28 to rotate the sheet turner 27 about its journal 31. The sheet turner 27 is revolved snciently so that the sheet engaging element 28 will pass clockwise over the clamping bar 20, as seen in FIGURE 2, to insure completely turning or ilipping the outermost sheet 24 without creasing or folding the sheet. The sheet turner shaft 30 is thendisengaged from its bearing 31 and the sheet turning element 29 is then inserted under the next front-most sheet and the shaft 30 is thereafter reinserted in the bearing 31, preparatory to turning the next sheet, when necessary. Obviously, the sheet turning element 29 may be inserted so that several sheets 24 are disposed on the outer side thereof, Where it is desired to turn several sheets simultaneously.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter dened by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

. "1. In combination with a rack including an upper cross piece, a clamp bar, and means detachably connecting the clamp bar to the cross piece for suspending a plurality of sheets from said cross piece and on one side of the rack; a sheet turner including a rst end portion forming a shaft, one end of said cross piece constituting a bearing for detachably receiving and journaling .4 said shaft, and said sheet turner including a second end portion laterally spaced from and disposed substantially parallel to said shaft for engaging behind an outermost one of the sheets for turning said sheet over said clamp bar when said sheet turner shaft is rotated in one direction in the bearing.

2. In a combination as defined by claim l, said second end portion being of a length substantially greater than the length of the shaft for engaging substantially across the sheet to be turned thereby.

3. In a combination -as defined by claim l, said sheet turner including a substantially straight intermediate portion extending between complementary ends of the shaft and said second end portion and disposed at approximately a right angle to each of said parts.

4. In a combination as dened by claim l, wherein the axis of said bearing coincides with the axis of said cross piece.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 511,089 Mackey Dec. 19, 1893 2,791,848 Neilsen May 14, 1957 2,859,549 Neilsen et al. Nov. 11, 1958 

